On Wisconsin: Gays Mills Bustling With Relocation Activity

The apple harvest is at its peak, while Sunday marks the final day of the 52nd annual Gays Mills Apple Festival.
At Sunrise Orchards, one of the state's largest apple producers, about 110,000 bushels of the fruit will be picked this year. Some will be pressed into cider or used to make cider donuts at a rate of 340 dozen an hour, according to the owners, Allen and Lynne Teach.

Below the ridge, down serpentine Highway 171 and just a bit to the north on Highway 131, it's busy, too. And in a few weeks, even more work will be under way, all in an effort to relocate to higher ground some of the homes and businesses from the flood plain of the Kickapoo River. Severe flooding in 2007 and 2008 and fears of more flooding led to the move, which is voluntary for businesses and home owners.

"It's very important," said Lynne Teach, during a tour of the family-owned bustling market and production facility where 120 people are employed each fall. "We're behind (the relocation effort) 100 percent. We want that to be successful." The move, similar to the one accomplished by the village of Soldiers Grove in the late 1970s, is designed to keep Gays Mills intact, expand business opportunities and increase tourism to the area, located about 90 miles northwest of Madison.

The village has spent about $1 million to purchase 26 homes and some of the displaced residents are already living in new digs.

Two buildings, with five townhomes each, have been completed and are occupied on Watermelon Way. Another 19 families are waiting for more townhomes to be built. Four single-family homes are in the works and another four could be constructed next spring, said Julie Henely, flood recovery coordinator for the village.. The first to be completed in mid October at the corner of Sandy Mound Street and Sunset Ridge will be the home of Lois Mickelson, who for years lived along the Kickapoo River but is fed up with the floods and threat of rising water. Her family moved her out of her home this summer after the Kickapoo once again breached its banks. She's staying with family until her new 1,300-square-foot, two-bedroom home is completed. The $140,000 home is on one level, on the side of a hill, has a covered front porch and a 6-foot-wide bay window in the living room. There will be stunning sunsets and little worry about rain. "She's just so excited to be up here," said her son, Steve Mickelson. "Hopefully she can live here a long time."

Steve Mickelson is also moving. His grocery store, Mickelson's Market, is merging with the Gays Mills Amoco convenience store and gas station. The two downtown businesses will occupy a 7,600-square-foot building just below Lois Mickelson's home and along Highway 131. Construction on the $1.8 million project is scheduled to begin in November and be completed in spring. "It's an opportunity for the village to have a grocery store and convenience store for years to come," Steve Mickleson said. "Without it, I don't know how long we'd be in business." Other businesses are following.

On Oct. 15, ground will be broken near the grocery and gas station on a 16,000-square-foot mercantile building. The $2.28 million facility will house a cafe, the local newspaper office, a barber shop, hair salon and office space.
Just to the south and on the opposite side of the highway, a $2.5 million building is planned for the library and village offices. It also will have an incubator kitchen that could lead to the creation of new businesses based on the harvests from the area and creativity of those who till the rolling landscape of Crawford County. The village has received $1.5 million from the state Department of Commerce but has leveraged the grant funding into $4.5 million worth of projects for the creation and relocation of businesses, thanks to private investment and low-interest loans.

"Just throwing money at it doesn't work. We need to be looking at this as a sustainable business model," Henley said. "By creative partnering and strategic use of the money, we have the beginnings of (another) economic engine for this area."

"I've watched them grow incredibly over the last 10 years," said Rasch, a Chicago transplant and former senior health care consultant who has lived in the area for 10 years. "I've always felt there's so much outdoor potential here."
Barry Adams covers regional news for the Wisconsin State Journal. Send him ideas for On Wisconsin at 608-252-6148 or by e-mail at badams@madison.com.